Carolina Hurricanes home game vs. Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday postponed by NHL
The Carolina Hurricanes will have to wait a few more days — at least — to play again.
The NHL announced Monday that the Canes’ home game Tuesday against the Tampa Bay Lightning had been postponed because of Carolina’s COVID-19 protocol issues. It’s the fourth straight Carolina game postponed, causing the league to readjust six games on its schedule.
The Hurricanes on Sunday had six players on the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol list: Defenseman Jaccob Slavin and forwards Jordan Staal, Teuvo Teravainen, Jordan Martinook, Warren Foegele and Jesper Fast, who was added to the list Saturday.
The Canes are scheduled to host the Lightning, the 2020 Stanley Cup champion, on Thursday at PNC Arena, and that game remains on the schedule. The Hurricanes, who worked out in small groups Monday, said they would have a full team practice Tuesday and remained hopeful of playing the Lightning on Thursday.
The Canes have not been together as a team on the ice since topping the Nashville Predators 4-2 on Jan. 18. The next day, the league announced the Canes-Preds game set for Jan. 19 had been postponed. The Canes have since had two home games against the Florida Panthers postponed.
The NHL, after reworking the schedule, announced Monday that Tuesday’s game with the Lightning now will be played Feb. 22. The two postponed Florida games at PNC Arena will be played Feb. 17 and March 5. The game at Nashville that was postponed has been reset for March 2.
Other changes: Columbus at Carolina, scheduled for Feb. 16, will be played Feb. 15; Carolina at Tampa Bay, scheduled Feb. 22, was reset to Feb. 24.
The Canes were able to conduct some team work on Monday, breaking up into four small groups. With 53 games scheduled in the next 100 days, practice time will be limited.
Canes schedule changes
▪ Carolina at Nashville, from Jan. 19 to March 2 (8 pm).
▪ Florida at Carolina, from Jan. 21 to Feb. 17 (5 pm).
▪ Florida at Carolina, from Jan. 23 to March 7 (5 pm).
▪ Tampa Bay at Carolina, from Jan. 26 to Feb. 22 (7 pm).
▪ Columbus at Carolina, from Feb. 16 to Feb. 15 (7 pm).
▪ Carolina at Tampa Bay, from Feb. 22 to Feb. 24 (5 pm).
This story was originally published January 25, 2021 at 10:42 AM.
